Sunday, June 11, 2006

London (England)

After a few hot days in Dubai, we boarded a plane in search of cooler climes. Although our time in London was short and sweet at only 4 days, the weather was AB FAB! At 30 Celsius it was not exactly cool, but enjoyable none the less. Everybody seemed to be out in the parks sunbathing. Guess sunshine is a rare occurrence in England!

We hit all of the typical tourist destinations. Here is a look at the Parliament buildings and Big Ben. Wade loved the architecture in London. He said it looked like a real life Gotham City.

A side view of Westminster Abbey. We thought it was picture perfect.

And of course, Buckingham Palace. No such luck in spotting the Queen, apparently we were not important enough to be invited in for tea.

Last but not least, here is a picture of Wade at Tower Bridge. No London Bridges falling down here.

The best part of being in London was that we got to meet up with some old friends from Cayman, Nicola and Craig. On Friday night Nicola took us out for a night on the town, which included dinner in the Covent Garden area pictured here. We had a great time and headed out to one of the nearby pubs for an after dinner drink. To our astonishment the pubs close here at shortly after 11 p.m.! We couldn't believe it. Who thought such a big metropolis would close down so early.

Just when we thought the English were completely lame, we experienced Football Spirit. On Saturday afternoon the kick off game for the World Cup between England and Paraguay was on. Wade and I decided to get into the local culture and head to a pub to watch the game. Here is a picture of the pub. After the game the streets were roaring with fans. Probably the most accurate description of what this was like is to quote the following which Wade found on the londontourist travel website "The worst part about the English in general is their total inability to hold their liquor, and their frequent occasion to prove it."

The above being said, we had a great time in London and couldn't help but admire some of the Football fans for their team spirit.